Regional focus
New allies in the north
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden both applied to join Nato in May 2022. Over a year later, the confl ict still rages – and Finland has offi cially become the 31st member of the alliance, with Sweden widely expected to follow suit soon. But beyond the strong political signals such moves send, what will Nato membership actually mean for the Helsinki and Stockholm governments? And what can these robustly independent nations offer their new allies in Brussels? Andrea Valentino talks to a range of experts to learn more, along the way wondering how different Nato membership will be in practice for two countries with long histories of outside collaboration.
T
hey came in winter, when the nights were short and the ground was hard. They came by land and air, perhaps 760,000 of them, with tanks and bomber planes. When it started, the world imagined that they’d conquer with ease. But the world was wrong. The defenders, fighting for their homes and their country, beat back a complacent foe, ambushing their armour and deploying snipers to pick off their officers in the snow. The attackers, increasingly demoralised with
a war they didn’t fully understand, began to mutiny, ignoring the calls of their leaders to launch yet more suicidal assaults. The defenders, for their part, were jubilant. “So many Russians,” went one common saying. “Where will we bury them all?” In case you haven’t guessed, this does not, in fact, describe Moscow’s shambolic invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For though they share much – including the aggressors themselves – that popular phrase was first uttered not in Kyiv, but in Helsinki.
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com 23
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